The Make Shift Ward
by Stina58
Summary: Some gashes are permanent and not mendable. They will forever bleed. One young woman, however, does a fantastic job of temporarily stitching gashes up.
1. The Healer

He had insisted that he was fine, but his protests fell on deaf ears. Finally, he gave in and limped upstairs to the hospital wing to see Madam Pomfrey. His first examination of the gash had been minimal, he realized. It didn't look too bad a couple hours ago. Now, however, it was swollen and purple with red blood smears around it.

When he arrived at the hospital wing, the sight before him was astonishing.

The wing itself must have been completely occupied. The corridor leading to it was lined with people lying on squishy sleeping bags or camp beds. Some had broken bones, while others had gashed faces or gnawed limbs. He assumed that the more important people and the severely injured were actually in the Wing, itself.

Percy was amazed at all the activity. People, some dressed in Healer costume, others were fighters that were uninjured, were roaming the corridor and assisting the wounded. Some had Pepper-Up and Skele-Gro cradled in their arms. Others had pitchers of water and were hydrating them. A good few of them were walking around with wands drawn, healing various injuries. Some of the fighters hopped up immediately and left, someone always taking their place once they moved. Others were put into an enchanted sleep to heal or told to stay put.

He supposed he stood there like an idiot for a few moments, but then the pain in his leg nearly doubled. He knew the adrenaline must be wearing off; his entire body was beginning to ache.

Percy walked up to an elderly woman with a kind face.

"Is there a place?..." Percy awkwardly left his sentence hanging, not particularly sure what else to say.

She smiled at him and tucked a greying strand of auburn hair behind her ear.

"Of course, dear," she told him in a way that reminded him of his mother. "Right over here."

She led him to a sleeping bag which laid right next to a window. Sun streamed in and refracted through his horn rimmed glasses for a second as he ungainly laid down on it. The bag was extremely comfortable. Percy, for a second of insanity, imagined it a cloud that enveloped him. He snapped out of that thought almost immediately, deeming it stupid and childish.

The elderly Healer was looking at the gash in his leg, examining every square centimeter of it. She nodded to herself and muttered under her breath before standing up to face him.

"All right dear, you'll be just fine." She smiled again at him. "Nothing major. I'll send one of the trainees over with some dittany and you'll be all set."

He nodded at her and smiled faintly back.

She took off at a rather quick pace down the corridor. He watched her until she was obscured by the elevated camp beds.

He focused on the make-shift ward. It was quiet, but not silent. Moaning and groaning issued from all around. Percy could hear the low hum of the Healers, Matrons, and volunteers speaking. He wondered who they were speaking to. Each other, perhaps? Or maybe to the injured? The sounds of several different footsteps bounced off the walls also. They grew louder and softer as they all moved towards and away from him. He focused on a soft pair of footsteps. They were light and dainty and were growing constantly louder with each step.

A young woman appeared. She was dressed in Muggle clothes, to his surprise. Her legs were sheathed in jeans with grubby-looking trainers sticking out. She was skinny, even with a large red jumper hanging around her torso. Her dark brown hair was pinned in a bun and her hazel eyes peered at him curiously.

"Hello," she told him softly. "My name is Audrey Phillips. Do you need water?"

He shook his head at her, denying the question. She nodded and produced a large orange bottle with a stopper on top from behind her.

"This is dittany," she assured him. "It will heal this."

She gestured towards the wound.

"Thank you," he told her pompously.

She smiled. "You're welcome."

Audrey removed the stopper from the dittany and tilted the bottle. Two drops of clear liquid oozed out of the mouth and landed on his wound. Percy winced ever so slightly and watched as the coloring changed from red and green to blue and purple. Skin also seemed to grow on top of it, making its appearance look weeks old.

"Thank you," he told her again as she placed the stopper back into the bottle.

"You're welcome," she replied again and stood.

He watched her look around the ward. Her face seemed sad and lonely.

"Are you all right?" Percy asked her. He mentally began berating himself. Of course she wasn't all right! Look where she was!

"I...I think so," Audrey told him before sitting back down. He raised an eyebrow at her. "I need a break."

It was Percy's turn to nod at her.

"Of course."

They sat there in silence for a minute or two, staring at each other. Finally, she spoke up.

"Where are you from?"

"Devon," Percy replied. "Ottery St. Catchpole."

Audrey nodded. "I suppose you went to school here? You look like people that I saw earlier today."

"My family. We're all here. And yes, I went to school here. I was a Gryffindor. How about you?"

"I didn't go to school here," she paused and considered her answer. "My mam taught me and my younger sister everything we needed to know. She was our teacher."

"I see. My mother taught us the elementary things before we went to school. She became quite good at it, seeing as there were seven of us."

_Were_. His insides ached as he thought of Fred. Audrey seemed to pick up on this too.

"Were?" She inclined her head towards him more, paying closer attention.

"My younger brother..."Percy faltered suddenly, not able to continue.

"He died?" Her voice was gentle, soft, and feathery. It was no more than a whisper that seemed to emanate from the dust in the air.

Percy nodded. "Last night."

"I'm sorry," she whispered again.

He nodded in acknowledgement.

She placed her hand softly on his and caught his eye. He released breath quickly as her gentle hazel eyes met his blue ones. They exchanged saddened expressions and Percy felt the urge to comfort the melancholy woman in front of him. She suddenly broke eye contact and looked down.

"My sister was severely injured when the war started," she said.

Nodding to her, he decided to hold his tongue. If she wanted to continue, she could. It was not his place to make her volunteer information.

"Her name is Ella." She smiled to herself. "Bright girl, she is."

She grinned at Percy suddenly and he smiled back.

"What are the names of your siblings?" Audrey asked. She said it suddenly and quickly; it caused Percy to jump slightly.

"My older brothers are named Bill and Charlie. Then my younger siblings are Ginny, Ron, George, and..." He stopped.

She nodded at him understandingly. "When you're able to talk about it, you're able to talk about it."

Percy didn't know what to say. Would he ever be able to talk about it? What would she say if he did? How do you explain to someone that the first time you saw your dead brother for three years was an hour before his death? How do you make someone _understand_...

"There will be a time," Audrey said. "Trust me. Maybe not right away...but soon. Your brother wouldn't want you to waste your life grieving. I may never have known him, but that's what most people want. For their families to move on."

She smiled a genuine smile at him and stood up. Audrey waved before taking a step to walk away.

"Audrey?" Percy suddenly said.

Audrey turned. "Yes?"

"Thank you...again."

"You're welcome again. I'll come back to check on you later. Just lie still for a while. Try to go to sleep."

Audrey turned once again and walked away. Percy didn't know exactly what he was feeling, but it was more than gratitude towards the young Healer.

She had begun to Heal him.


	2. Sleep

Percy begun to feel his eyelids droop. He could feel the hours of sleeplessness wash over him in a haze. He, quite frankly, was terrified to fall asleep. He knew that the moment his eyes closed, Fred would revisit him in his dreams. Or even worse-just behind his eyelids. He wondered how long it took for someone to go mad with grief, and figured that he would soon find out so it was no use pondering over it.

Fighting sleep was never a strong point with him. Even during school; if he was tired, then he would fall asleep almost immediately. So he wondered why he was trying so vainly to stay awake. He knew he would lose this battle. He knew it. So why was he fighting it?

Today however, Percy knew exactly why he was so keen to fight it.

Audrey walked past his sleeping bag again to attend to the patient across from him. She smiled at him every time she walked by. Percy was surprised at how tired she looked. The bags under her eyes were the most prominent feature on her face so far. Her skin was sallow and pale. She seemed to walk slightly clumsy, like she was trying to stay upright.

"Audrey?" he called out to her finally, for she looked in danger of just keeling over asleep. "Why don't you take a break or something?"

Audrey smiled at him sleepily. "I'm working Percy."

"I realize that," he told her matter-a-factly. "But wouldn't your work be more efficient if you rested first?"

She walked over to him and sat down on the ground in the same position that she was in earlier.

"I suppose," she finally conceded. "But not working means more people hurting."

"There are people taking shifts. They can easily wake someone up to relieve you. The healer that helped me earlier, she's been asleep for a good six hours now."

"Agnes has been working longer hours than me," she told Percy. "And she needs her sleep."

"So do you."

"No, I don't." She emphasized the opposite with a rather large yawn.

"Everyone else on the ward is asleep. They don't need your help." Percy thought this would be a great diversionary tactic. Sadly, his attempt was futile.

"Then I can watch over you."

He held up his hands.

"I'm not going anywhere."

She giggled. "I know."

He chuckled with her. Bass and soprano mixed in the air.

"So, if you're so determined to stay up, you can tell me more about yourself."

Audrey nodded. "Alright. You already told me about you, I suppose I should return the favor..." She looked at him. "I grew up in Yorkshire in a town called Knaresborough. I lived in a small house on a good amount of land, I suppose. My father was a farmer and my mother's job was to teach us. You see, both my parents are magic, but my father is Muggleborn, so he was taught by his father to farm.

"I lived a quiet childhood, with my only human interaction being family. I have a rather large family on my dad's side and a small family on my mam's. I enjoyed my childhood, though. I used to take a book out to a small wooded area behind my house and read during the summertime. When I got older, I would travel down into the town to look around."

She painted such a beautiful picture in his head. The picture was a younger girl with curly brown hair and bright, curious hazel eyes sitting against a tree, reading. The next image was of an older girl with brown hair and hazel eyes walking through her Muggle town. As he thought about it, the name Knaresborough sounded familiar, but it was probably a place with some historical-cultural attachment.

"My father is very ill, so my sister and I stayed home to learn, to be by him. I took my NEWTs through the ministry when I was seventeen, and when I qualified, I applied to be a Healer." She smiled. "So here I am today."

Percy nodded. Audrey stared into space for a while before turning her head towards him.

"Are you in pain?"

She meant his leg, and he knew it. But her words sounded like a double-edged sword. She meant more than the obvious implications.

"My leg doesn't hurt anymore." He took a deep breath before continuing, "But I have a reason to believe that that's not what you're talking about."

Audrey smiled at him shyly.

"I'm sorry if I'm being..." She paused, searching for the right word. "Assertive? Forward?"

"It's fine," he muttered, not wanting to think about _him_.

"It does help, you know, talking about it."

Now it was his turn to stare into space. He let the thoughts that he didn't want to think invade his mind, to hold him captive.

Fred was gone.

Gone and never coming back. Percy was never going to see his brother again. Not alive, anyways. Was there a Heaven? Was he happy up there? Didn't he know how much he was missed?! How much he will miss? He'll never see his other siblings get married. He'll never see Ginny, his only little sister, fall in love. (Though, truth be told, from what Percy has seen so far of Ginny around Harry Potter, Fred has seen his little sister fall in love.) That was a slightly comforting thought. It was until it crashed down on him that Fred himself will never fall in love or get married or have children...

Percy could feel himself breathing hard. The grief crushed him, hung on every breath. Every movement was labored. Every thought near impossible to finish...

He felt warm weight enclose around his middle and he immediately welcomed the warmth.

The warmth was Audrey.

She was hugging him, tears for an unknown person falling down from her eyes. He felt wetness on his cheeks and he was crying. Crying for Fred, for everything he had lost. For everything Percy had lost. He'll never fully be able to make up his disloyalty towards the family to Fred ever. He died before he had the chance.

That cut him deep.

What made the cut heal a little, was the short woman who was hugging him currently. She was crying. Crying for Fred, whom she had never met. She was compassionate.

Percy hugged her back and eventually the two fell asleep in each others arms.


End file.
